Five-month-old baby & woman dead after boat overturns near Statue of Liberty as 12 pulled from water and captain charged
A BABY and a woman have died after a boat capsized by the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbour.
A dozen survivors had to be pulled from the frigid waters by coast guards after the 22ft motorboat flipped over.
Boat captain Manuel Hernandez was arrested in the early hours of the morning for driving the vessel while dangerously overloaded.
Hernandez, 46, has been hit with 13 charges of reckless endangerment.
Cops said the dead infant, who was reportedly only five months old, and the woman were found by divers.
They were airlifted to a Brooklyn hospital in critical condition, but tragically died.
Surviving passengers could be seen in a hospital lobby holding their life jackets.
It is not yet clear what caused the boat to capsize.
The NYPD said 12 of the 14 victims were pulled to safety by the time they arrived.
It is unclear if the two victims are related.
A major search and rescue operation was launched after the incident was reported just before 10.30pm on Saturday.
Multiple units from the FDNY, Harbor, Scuba and Aviation, rushed to the scene.
Shocking footage from the scene showed multiple emergency vessels swarm towards the incident.
Heartbreaking cries from the victims’ loved ones could be heard at the hospital, the New York Post reported.
In 2022, a seven-year-old boy and a woman died after a boat capsized in the Hudson River just off Manhattan.
The incident shared striking similarities with yesterday’s tragedy.
Coast guards also pulled 12 survivors from the water, while the two victims were airlifted to hospital.
A third person suffered a serious but non-life-threatening injury.
Nine others were hospitalized with minor injuries.
Two women who were at the pier for a boat ride described to the Post how EMS officials were trying to resuscitate the child.
The Sun has reached out to the NYPD for comment.
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